Chapter 1: "Hey, hey, uh, uh 2, 3, 4, and a 5, 6, 7, 8." Fatima yelled over the blaring music of 'Get Another Boyfriend'. "No! Wrong! Nick where is your head?" Fatima confronted his off beat dancing. Replying with a laugh Nick said, "It's on my shoulders." "Come on Nick, we only have a couple more rehearsals." Vegas, one of the dancers said as she took a drink of water. "I know, sorry, it's early." Nick said sitting down. "Alright everyone, take 10. Be back in here, ready to go at exactly…. 8:54" Fatima said looking at her watch. With a sigh of relief, everyone went into the other room to cool down. "Those moves were amazing." I said from off to the side. "Oh heya Ray. When did you show up?" Fatima asked greeting me. "About five minutes ago." I replied. "Well I'm glad to see that your flight went well." Fatima said pulling over a chair for me to sit down. "Yeah, it was alright. I slept most of the time." I laughed. "Ya know I have to be here all day, so if you want to go back to my apartment, or sightsee or something else, you're welcome too. I'll give you my car keys, or whatever you need." Fatima suggested reaching for her purse to give me her keys. "Naw, it's alright. I wanna see exactly what it is you do." I said. "If you really wanna…." Fatima started. "I really wanna." I replied. "OK." Fatima said back as the Boys and all the dancers came back into the room. "Before we start, I want everyone to meet my friend Raygn." Fatima announced to everyone. "Ray is fine." I said. "Hi, I'm Carrie." A longhaired woman said to me from off to the side. "Hi Carrie." I shook her hand. "Carrie is Brian's girlfriend!" Nick joked from the back. "Is that so?" I asked joining in on the fun. "Yes it is." Brian said proudly as he walked over to introduce himself. 'I'm Brian." He said holding out his hand. "Ray." I said back. "Of course this is Nick, Kev, Bone, and D." Brian introduced the rest of the guys. "Heya." I said to them. "And our wonderful dancers." Howie began to introduce them all. "Our veterans, Vegas and Melissa. And the new ones, Faye, Imajin, and Madison." He said going around the room as each of them waved. I simply smiled. Vegas and Melissa began to whisper something to each other. From how they presented themselves I could tell they liked to be the center of attention. "Come on over here and talk." Carrie said as she pointed a small table in the corner of the room. "Alright." I replied. "So where'd you come in from?" Carrie asked as I sat down. "Chicago." I said keeping my attention on the dancing. "Then it was quite a flight huh?" Carrie asked as she drank her coffee. "Yeah." I said still watching Fatima. "Ray...you who!" Carrie said getting my attention. "Wha?" I said turning back to her. "You alright? You seem a little out of it?" Carrie said waving her hand in front of me. "I'm fine. I've just always been fascinated with choreography. It's amazing what a few steps can turn into a work of art." I told Carrie. "Yeah it is. Do you dance?" Carrie asked. "Not organized." I laughed, "I go to clubs, and that sort of thing. But I've never done anything like this. Fatima invited me out here to see her, then she's going to come with me to Chicago for a bit." I explained our plan. "That's cool. So what do you do?" Carrie asked wanting to know more about me. "I'm a DJ." I began, "102.7 KLUV Chicago." I added dramatically in a 'radio voice'. Carrie cracked up. "That's hilarious!" She giggled. All the Boys, dancers and Fatima looked over at us. I just smiled and waved as Carrie covered her mouth. "Was I that loud?" She whispered. "I guess so!" I laughed back. "Whoops!" Carrie laughed again. She had sort of a contagious laugh. A quick little giggle with a squeak would best describe her laugh I could definitely see how she and Brian had gotten along so well. "Tell me some more about you." I said to Carrie to trying keep my focus on our conversation instead of the dancing. "Well, um, me and Brian have been together for almost a year now… Ray…. Ray!!" My attention had gone back over to the dancing. "I'm sorry Carrie. Why don't we go into the other room to talk?" I figured that way I could keep my concentration. "Alright." We walked passed the group of dancers and just waved. I saw Vegas and Melissa whisper to each other again. It seemed that every time I looked at them they'd say something to each other. "Now… back to the convo!" I laughed as I pulled over a chair. "How long have you and Fatima known each other?" Carrie asked as she poured some coffee for me. "Thanks, we've been friends since high school. Well sort of. She knew my brother and then he went off to college and Fatima and I kept in touch. It's kind of a weird story." I explained. "But a cool one." Carrie laughed. "Yeah it is." I smiled. "Carrie…. Can I ask a question?" I said leaning across the table. She nodded. "What is up with that Vegas chick?" I said quietly as if someone was going to hear. "Don't mind her. This is she and Melissa's second tour with the Boys and they think they are everything. Personally… I think Faye, Ima and Madison dance better… but don't tell them that." Carrie said. "Okay, cause every time I glance over that those two they glare at me and then whisper something to each other." I told Carrie. "Yeah, just ignore them." Carrie said. Just then my cell phone rang. "Hello, Raygn Mitchell here." I answered, through the static I heard, "Heya Ray. This is Alexia… I heard you're in town." It was Alexia another old friend of mine who I hadn't seen in a while. "Yeah, how are you?" I asked her. "I'm good, listen, do you wanna meet me for lunch?" Alexia asked. "Sure." I replied. "Great! Be at Starrs at 1." Alexia said. "I'll be there." I responded hanging up. "Carrie, do you and Brian want to join me for lunch later?" I asked. "Oh, we were supposed to go with Nick…" She trailed off. "He could come too. I'm supposed to meet Alexia, a friend at Starrs." I said writing it in my Palm Pilot. "Oh sure. That's cool." Carrie agreed. "Fatima, Carrie, Nick, Brian, Alexia, lunch, one, Starrs." I mumbled to myself as I wrote it. "Great. That's taken care of." I looked up smiling. "You certainly are organized." Carrie giggled. "Yeah, I'm always on the run, or that's the way it seems. So many things to do!" I laughed with her. "Whoa! Did you see that move?" I jumped up looking through the glass at the Boys rehearsing. "Yeah, that's a new one." "Jump, turn, hand flip, hand flip, down." I heard Fatima yell. "Was it…."? I trailed off as I tried the move. "Yeah, that's it. How'd you figure that out?" Carrie asked. "I'm not sure." I laughed. "Let's see…. Jump, turn, hand flip, hand flip, down." I whispered to myself as I tried the move again. Just as I finished it, the door opened and there stood Fatima with an amazed look on her face. "Raygn! Where did you learn that?" She said. "Um, I just saw you show the Boys and then…." Kevin, Brian and AJ applauding cut me off. "Ok… Um…All I did was copy that move." I said not sure why they were so impressed. "I've been trying to get some of those girls to do that move for almost a week, then you come in and nail it. Come here…." Fatima brought me into the dance room. "Try this." She did a quick cane routine like in the Aaliyah video. "Alright…." I paused and took the cane from her, copied the dance moves she just did then handed the cane back to her. "Ray… I… I'm speechless. Where'd you study?" Madison asked me. "Uh, I didn't. I'm not a dancer." I said back to her. "Like hell you're not!" Imajin exclaimed. "I'm not you guys. I'm a DJ. Not a dancer." I said astonished that I had even got the move right. "I'm going to talk to you later." Fatima said as she turned back around. "Ok." I simply said and went back to sit next to Carrie. "Bravo!" Nick said just as he closed the door. "Whoa girl. You are a natural." Carrie said. Still not believing it I just said, "I guess so." |